Something New
by Princesss Andromeda
Summary: Twelve-year-old Thalia is completely alone. She is invisible and there was nobody left to care about her. That is, until she met Luke. "Maybe," She thought, "This could be the start of something new."


_**Authors Note**_**: Thanks to everyone who reviewed or read my last story, "**_**Inevitable**_**". Each review helped me understand what I was doing wrong in my writing, and what I could do to make it right. Thank you so much to: **

**CorruptionToday**

**Anonymous**

**Peachy Apricot**

**I decided to try again and write a new story. Please review and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome, as are flames!**

_**Disclaimer**_**: I do not own the Percy Jackson series. Credit goes to Mr. Rick Riordan for coming up with his great ideas.**

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The day was crisp and clean. Light scents of pumpkin and leaves filled Thalia's nose as she walked along. Her head was down and she seemed to be in deep thought. Passerby stopped and stared at the young girl of twelve. It was strange for them to see such an odd girl walking down the streets of Connecticut alone. Of course, this was common for Thalia. People always gave her curious looks.

Thalia turned and headed down an alley. Then, suddenly, she froze in place. Her head snapped up. Slowly, she looked around. Watching and listening for whatever had made that sharp, cracking sound.

She couldn't see anything, so she gradually relaxed. _It was probably just a branch on a tree breaking off in the breeze, _she thought to herself. She had been tense all day. Something was going to happen soon. She could feel it. And happen it did.

Because right as that thought crossed her mind, the alley wall exploded. A chorus of screams arose from the various pedestrians from the main street behind her. Thalia herself shrieked and dashed to hide for cover from the falling debris. Hiding behind a dumpster, she watched between her fingers at the events now circulating around her. A blonde boy sprinted into the alley way. He couldn't have been much older than she was.

Then Thalia noticed the… the… _thing_ rising from the dust and debris swirling in the cool air. It was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen, and Thalia had seen some pretty scary things in her life. It was a good eight or nine feet tall and it probably weighed four-hundred pounds of pure _muscle._ Tattoos laced its buff arms.

The boy clearly sensed it also, for he whipped around, pulling a knife out of his pocket. The knife was strange, because it didn't seem to be made of steel. It was a shiny bronze, and it seemed to be emitting a surreal glow. Thalia had never seen anything quite like it.

She watched through half shut eyes as the boy charged the beast. He attempted a stab here and there. Mostly though, he was just trying to block the monsters attack.

"I will have your flesh, demigod!" the creature shouted as it swung its gigantic fist at the boy. "Yum, yum little hero! Let me munch your bones!"

"Not today you won't!" the boy yelled, finally getting in a good stab. He speared the monster right through its stomach.

It clutched at its belly, trying to heal the wound to no avail. The beast wailed as it slowly disintegrated into a gold, chalk-like powder. The knife clattered to the ground.

Thalia felt faint. She cautiously crawled out from her hiding spot. The boy was brushing the glimmering dust off of his ripped jeans and wiping the golden blood off of his bronze dagger. He didn't appear to have noticed her yet.

She cleared her throat and asked, "Excuse me sir… are you a-alright?" She winced inwardly at how stupid that sounded. _Of course he wasn't all right! He had just been attacked by a freaking monster! _She mentally berated herself.

The boy spun around in shock. "What… but… how much of that did you see?" He was _glaring _at her!

Thalia was confused. He was acting like he was… angry at her. That made her mad. She didn't even know him! How dare he be mad at her? She hadn't done anything, except ask if he was alright.

"E-everything!" She stuttered. "What do you mean, 'how much did I see'? I was right there! Why wouldn't I see everything? What was that thing anyways? And what's up with that knife? Why is it not silver? Can I hold it? What's your name? I'm Thalia, by the way." Great. Now she was rambling. _I probably sound like an idiot. _An angry idiot.

The boy just smiled. He seemed to be over his momentary shock and anger. "Slow down, kiddo. Don't hurt yourself asking all those questions. I'm Luke. Luke Castellan."

Now that he wasn't giving her the death stare, Thalia could see that he had very nice blue eyes. They were the color of the sky on a cloudless day. They complimented his tousled blonde hair well. Her heart began to pound a bit more rapidly.

Thalia calmed down. He wasn't so bad after all. He defiantly wasn't nearly as bad as most other kids. Not that she knew many other kids. After all, she had run away when she was only nine.

"So Thalia, where do you live? It's not good for such a pretty girl to be out all alone. You never know what dangerous monsters you might see." He winked at her. "I can walk you home if you'd like."

Thalia blushed and looked down at her feet. "Well… It's just that… I'm a run-away and I don't have a home…" She mumbled embarrassedly. She didn't like admitting that she was homeless. She was hoping he wasn't about to report her to the authorities.

But Luke just smiled and said, "Aw, that's nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, you aren't alone on that one. I'm a run away too."

Thalia gasped incredulously. "Really? No way!" She couldn't believe it. He was so nice! All the other homeless kids she had met were rude and selfish.

"Yes way," Luke chuckled. "What would you say to an alliance? We could team up." He held out his hand so Thalia could shake it. "Truce?"

Thalia hesitated. She thought about what her mother used to tell her, '_Never trust strangers'_. Then again, she couldn't even trust her own mother. After the incident with Jason… she pushed that thought from her head.

Teaming up with somebody _couldn't _be that bad. In fact, she was sure it would be better. There would be somebody looking out for her, watching her back. It had to be better then being alone. She still was wary, though. She had always had a tough time trusting people. But maybe it was time to move on. Thalia reached out and shook Luke's hand.

"Deal," she said with a smile.

"Cool. Hey, do you want to go get something to eat?" Luke asked. "I found a twenty on the ground this morning. And it seems as if I have _a lot_ of explaining to do."

Thalia thought about the earlier events with the monster and such. Maybe he could also explain about the other things she had seen. About the other strange creatures that had stalked her in the night. She was extremely curious, not to mention she was starving. She nodded her head.

"Let's go," Luke grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the alleyway.

Thalia couldn't help but grin and giggle. She had finally found a friend after all those years wandering alone.

And maybe, just maybe, this could be the start of something new.

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_**Authors Note**_**: So what did y'all think? Was it good? Better than my last story? Please review. I need some feedback so I can hopefully make my next story even better. Once again, constructive criticism is welcome and so are flames!**

**Thank you,**

**-Princess Andromeda**


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